in the House of Assembly this week that she was proud that the recent Sports Awards ceremony was an alcohol free event -- indicative of the Ministry's stance on drugs.

Ms Gordon explained: "We felt if we were serious about it alcohol must be considered a drug.'' Ms Gordon also said athletes may be tested in the future for alcohol, which could along with marijuana, be considered illegal in addition to drugs such as cocaine, heroin and performance enhancing anabolic steroids.

How times change! It was only five years ago that Bermuda's Nicky Saunders was seen having a `brew' after his superb gold medal performance in the high jump competition at the Commonwealth Games in Auckland, New Zealand. And while it would be hard for anyone to take Saunders to task for enjoying a sudsy celebration after his golden performance, that wasn't exactly the case.

In fact it was the Commonwealth Games officials who gave Saunders a few beers soon after his victory -- Bermuda's only gold medal winning performance in the history of the Games. And they didn't hand over the cold beers so Saunders could celebrate -- rather so that he could produce enough urine for a drug testing sample! However the beer was, strangely, an American `lite' brand -- not the more tasty Kiwi beer.

*** Local journalists digging for connections between Bermuda and the collapse of British merchant bank Barings this week left no stone unturned as the following story shows.

While being interviewed about the Bank of Bermuda's minimal exposure to Barings, president Mr. Charles Vaughan-Johnson pointed out that Bermuda's biggest bank was formed as a result of Barings Brothers last near collapse.

In the 1890s, Barings invested heavily in Argentina and when the Argentine economy collapsed, it nearly took Barings with it.

Frazzled local merchants who came close to losing their deposits decided to form their own bank -- which later become the Bank of Bermuda -- instead.

*** A sign of just how quickly times have changed in the world of electronic music technology was driven home recently.

A family man in his mid-30s, he was being harassed by his seven-year-old daughter about something she wanted to do.

On and on the youngster went until finally he snapped, "Oh stop it! You sound like a cracked record.'' Swiftly came the child's response.

"Daddy,'' she said, "what's a record?'' *** An office joker, returning from lunch with a friend, walked up to the overworked receptionist and said: "Excuse me, are there any jobs today?'' "Believe me, you wouldn't want to work here,'' the woman exclaimed -- just as her boss walked by.

*** Accompanied by houseguests from overseas, a local shopper recently rolled his trolley up to the check-out counter at a major supermarket and unloaded the contents.

Things were going smoothly until the cashier came to an item marked $1.50. She stopped, turned to a fellow cashier on another register and, holding the item aloft, sang out: "Is $1.50 the right price for this? I thought it was $3 for two.'' The visitors are still recovering! GOLDEN MOMENT -- Bermuda's Nicky Saunders raises his arms in victory after winning the gold medal at the 1990 Commonwealth Games.